Northampton leads the way for women in sports media

Women interested in developing a career in sports media can enrol free for a conference at the University of Northampton.

The Changing Futures For Women In Sports Media conference will see a number of Northamptonshire female sports media professionals sharing the secrets of their trade alongside other well known women from the worlds of sports journalism and marketing.

Conference organiser, Senior Journalism Lecturer Marc Webber, said: “While there are still far too few women working in sports media and marketing, it’s pleasing to see Northamptonshire as something of a leader in this respect.

“We have female sports marketers at Northampton Town FC, Northampton Saints, Northants County Cricket Club and the Silverstone and Rockingham Speedway motorsport circuits.

“The BBC’s Northampton Town reporter is also female, as is the local newspaper’s sports photographer.

“As a University, we are also helping to give the next generation every chance of making it in the industry, through our new Multimedia Sports Journalism course. One of our female students has already completed a work placement at Aston Villa and regularly attends Saints press conferences.

Robyn Cowen

“We have also noticed a big increase in female applicants to the course for next year.”

Marc added: “We’ve also had in leading names from the industry to come and inspire our students, including TV sports reporter, Faye Carruthers, and former England Lioness-turned pundit, Sue Smith.

“But, not content with that, we wanted to hold a conference which celebrates those in the industry, while highlighting to existing professionals in the trade, and students looking to break into it, the opportunities that are there for them.”

The event is aimed at two audiences: female sports media employees wishing to hear from the speakers and network, plus female students aged 16 to 18 who want to try their hand at sports journalism, marketing and content creation at a series of workshops led by professionals.

Offside podcast crew

Local sports media professionals appearing at the event, which takes place on Thursday 8 February, include:

Teachers of females aged 16 to 18 who are studying English or PE and want to be involved in sports media and marketing can register students for the free workshops, by emailing nina.gandy@northampton.ac.uk.